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Adams Foam & Green Cell Foam are proud to be sponsoring Race Night

Adams Foam & Green Cell Foam are proud to be sponsoring Race Night at Seymour Downs: A Benefit for The Clean Oceans Project. We could sit here and try to explain their work to you, but visit their website because they’ll do a much better job! http://www.thecleanoceansproject.org

English Packaging Laws Prompt Lawsuit Over Meat Packaging

The citizens of Lincolnshire, England, were so fed up with the layers of plastic and cardboard and Styrofoam that encased their store purchases this fall that they took a high-priced, highly wrapped piece of meat to court.

Specifically, the Lincolnshire County Council sued the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain for "excessive packaging" of its Taste the Difference Slow Matured Ultimate Beef Roasting Joint, which costs nearly $9 per pound, after receiving consumer complaints. No matter that the meat was a "luxury" item, the council said: the way it was packaged — plastic-wrapped atop a PET tray under a clear plastic cover and then swathed in a fetching cardboard sleeve — violated British law.

British regulations on excess packaging first took effect in 2003 in an effort to reduce waste, particularly items that cannot be recycled and go into a landfill. Those rules, strengthened two years ago in response to environmental concerns and an awareness that the nation’s landfills were reaching their limits, now require that producers keep packaging to the minimum required for "products’ safety, hygiene and consumer acceptance."

That set off a nationwide experiment in rethinking how familiar products are sold, from Easter eggs to tubes of tomato paste to plastic jugs of fabric softener.

"I think it’s starting to affect purchasing decisions, but maybe not so much at this time of year," said Andy Dawe, head of the retail division at the Waste Resources Action Program, or WRAP, a government-financed waste reduction project. "When people shop now, packaging is often the last thing on people’s mind. But that changes when they have to extract the toy from the layers and layers of plastic."
The British charity Waste Watch, which advised holiday shoppers to "avoid goods that involve unnecessary packaging," estimates that one billion Christmas cards and 32 square miles of wrapping paper will be thrown away in Britain.

There are many reasons that food and consumer products come heavily wrapped, from marketing appeal, to the need to protect expensive items like new cellphones, to security issues. Computer memory sticks and DVDs, for example, are sold in outsize packages to prevent theft.

Even watchdogs admit that appearances can be important. "There’s a lot of energy that goes into producing food, and if it’s not packaged well enough to protect it or to appeal to customer, then it will spoil on the shelf," said Liz Foster, the leader of a special team appointed by the council in Lincolnshire, on England’s eastern coast, to scrutinize packaging.

But the economic and environmental incentives for streamlining or eliminating some types of packaging have grown. Local governments pay hefty taxes for trash sent to landfills — about $100 per ton, up nearly 50 percent in the last two years — and European Union rules require countries to halve the amount of trash sent to landfills by 2013 from 1995 levels.

Landfills are an environmental concern partly because rotting trash releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Landfill taxes on unnecessary and excessive packaging will cost local governments about $4 billion per year, according to a study by the Local Government Association. Studies suggest that households could avoid generating more than half the waste that they produce.

In the United States, the federal Environmental Protection Agency also encourages efforts to reduce packaging and household waste, but through low-key exhortation rather than inspections and regulations.
The United States, unlike Britain, imposes no special federal tax on landfills, and weaker regulation makes it easier to expand them.

Still, some companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon.com are taking steps to trim their packaging for items sold in the United States.

In Britain, excess packaging rules are policed by the Trade Standards Agency, whose local officers investigate consumer complaints like the ones that got the beef in trouble, as well as issues like counterfeiting.

The government reports some successes. The WRAP agency, for example, which has been collaborating with companies like Mars, Cadbury and Nestlé to streamline the packaging of boxes of candy, says that the use of boxes, foils and bows for chocolate Easter eggs was down anywhere from 25 to 55 percent last year in Britain.

And a growing number of companies have signed on to a voluntary program founded in 2005 called the Courtauld Commitment, under which they pledge to reduce packaging. Government officials say that more than 1.3 million tons of food and packaging waste and 3.6 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions — from manufacturing, transporting and disposing of the materials — was avoided as a result.

Since Lincolnshire created its dedicated packaging team, complaints about excess packaging have risen to nearly 100 annually from 3, Ms. Foster said. Common gripes, she said, include chocolates, cosmetic creams and online purchases sent in huge boxes in which a tiny item is "nearly lost" in an array of paper, plastic and cardboard.

To solicit customer opinion, the supermarket chain ASDA, owned by Wal-Mart, asked shoppers last year to toss items that they felt were overpackaged into a box by the market’s entrance so that the company could consider redesigning them.

ASDA also recently completed a trial program for laundry products in which customers received a reusable pouch that they could fill with fabric softener from pumps at the market.

Tubes of tomato paste and toothpaste have traditionally been boxed because they are prone to dents, and boxes are easier to stack for display But today, the tomato tubes at many stores are arrayed like soldiers, cap down, in a perforated cardboard display that protects them.

Some changes adopted by manufacturers and retailers are less visible, like the use of thinner glass for beer bottles and thinner plastic bags for salad greens.
As for the Lincolnshire Council’s legal action on the beef specialty, the council dropped the case two days before it was to go to a judge. Like many other chain operations in Britain, the company did away with trays and reduced other accouterments, cutting the packaging by more than 50 percent.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 2, 2011

An article last Sunday about regulations in Britain aimed at reducing the environmental effects of excess packaging misstated the number of tons of carbon dioxide emissions that were saved as a result of a voluntary government program to reduce food and packaging waste. The amount was 3.6 million tons, not 3.6 tons.

Sustainability at McGill Profiles Green Cell Foam

Sustainability at McGill is a student run organization aimed at raising awareness around campus and creating a culture of sustainability. More specifically, we will concentrate on diverse sustainability issues, non for profit organizations and initiatives taking place around campus. Through communicating these issues, we hope to better our university community by transforming its students into socially responsible, ecologically friendly and all around educated individuals. Sustainability at McGill

Highland Park Proposes Styrofoam Ban

Highland Park proposes polystyrene foam banRestaurateurs edgy as city considers what apparently would be the first such prohibition in the Midwest

December 03, 2010|By Sue Ter Maat, Tribune reporters

Highland Park could ban restaurants from using polystyrene foam cups, bowls and plates under a proposal that gets five stars from environmentalists but is opposed by some retailers because of the cost.

The product — a form of plastic commonly referred to by the trademarked name Styrofoam — is light weight and good at keeping food hot or cold, but it takes hundreds of years to biodegrade in landfills.

"As far as I know, Highland Park would be the only one in the Midwest" to enact such a ban, said Bill Bogot, chairman of the city's Environmental Commission.

Dozens of West Coast communities have banned the use of polystyrene foam, although California officials dropped a proposal to prohibit it statewide last year because of fear it would harm businesses. Restaurateurs dubbed it "Foam Fight 2009" and warned that it would force them to raise prices.

Similar concerns have been voiced in Highland Park, where a city-appointed business commission — pointing to the weak economy — asked officials to delay any plan to ban the product, Mayor Michael Belsky said.

Green Cell Foam Coolers Protect Sandoz Pharma Shipments!

For years, Sandoz had used prevalidated expanded polystyrene cold chain shippers and ice packs to overnight-mail temperature-sensitive injectable liquids to U.S. customers from its Mechanicsburg, PA, distribution center. But when the company changed its outer shipping containers, it also switched to shippers made from Green Cell Foam™ cushioning material supplied by KTM Industries. Read the full article from Healthcare Packaging here.

Check out Adams Foam on Discovery Channel's Factory Made!

There have been many stories in recent years about consumer products manufactured in China containing harmful chemicals, and we believe it is our duty to make sure American consumers make educated choices about the products they purchase. So, the next time you go to buy a couch or a baby mattress, you should ask if the foam comes from the USA and meets various EPA and other consumer protection laws, or if it comes from China and contains harmful chemicals.

Yours in Good Health,

Adams Foam

Dycor Technologies Adopts Green Cell Foam Packaging

Dycor Technologies, based in Edmonton, AB, specializes in providing wireless data communication solutions for remote, hostile, limited infrastructure environments and provides users with the tools to transmit data quickly, reliably, and at minimal cost. They are a technically advanced company with an eco-conscious mindset, and we are proud to provide them with Green Cell Foam packaging that not only meets their exceptional packaging protection standards of sensitive goods, but also meets their goal of using truly environmentally-friendly packaging.

The use of Green Cell Foam by Dycor Technologies is another success story for Green Cell Foam and we look forward to adding your company to this growing list!

Volvo Praises Green Cell Foam!

Volvo, a company known worldwide for safety and ingenuity, is one of the most notable users of Green Cell Foam. The following letter, briefly explaining the benefits and rationale of why Volvo has switched to and is so pleased with Green Cell Foam, was recently distributed to Volvo Construction Equipment Dealers from their corporate office:

Parts and Service Information (PSI)

Volvo Parts packaging engineers have been working diligently with material suppliers and the ISTA -
the transport industry’s professional organization - to improve its packaging for glass products. The result of this collaboration is a new packaging system that significantly reduces the occurrence and cost of damage while demonstrating extreme care for our environment.

Care for the environment is a Volvo core value. The process started by investigating the replacement of oil-based materials from its current glass packaging with environmentally friendly products. This was achieved with the use of corn-based Green Cell Foam™. Green Cell Foam is environmentally-sustainable technology that decreases greenhouse gas emissions by 80% and energy requirements by 70%.

The next step was to ensure outstanding protection. All Green Cell Foam-based glass packages have been rigorously tested to meet the industry-standard ISTA 3A certification for superior protection during shipment. Earning this certification provides two distinct advantages. The key advantage is that your customers will receive their shipment in pristine condition. The second advantage is that you will avoid the costs associated with broken products, multiple shipments and unhappy customers. Any damage claims arising from the shipment of an ISTA 3A-approved pack are to be borne by the carrier.

Separate the foam from the box. Place the foam in a composting system - it completely biodegrades in less than 60 days. Place the box in a corrugate recycling receptacle.

OR

Place the box AND the foam in a corrugate recycling receptacle. Green Cell Foam is completely repulpable.
If you have any questions or comments on Volvo's new earth-friendly packaging, please send us a message at: www.volvo.com/comments.

Green Cell Foam: A Bad Axe Solution

As Green Cell Foam really begins to flourish in the packaging marketplace, we are pleased to have customers that not only feel good about helping the environment, but who also go so far as to sing our praises! We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Bad Axe Tool Works for their kind words posted on the Inside Sustainable Packaging Blog last week, and we look forward to a lasting, beneficial GREEN relationship with their company.